Now the parts list you have been most likely saying “come on already and get to the point”… Ok here is a detailed breakdown of what has been ordered to complete the car the way I have envisioned it. This is a complete parts list needed to do any of these items. So if you have questions please feel free to ask. I have listed BMW parts with part numbers and non BMW parts as well. Once I have completed the car I will include a full parts list of the car in its new state.

I am making CSL door panels in alcataera. I got the idea from the interior of my 1M. Also I wanted to be different then everyone.
51417896919 --- Door handle front left-CSL
51417896920 --- Door handle front right

Back from two weeks of vacation and Mr. UPS has left me some new items. Evolve R tuner system. 73MM Wheel stud conversion. Last is the CSL/Completion steering rack. Still waiting on more parts to arrive ug... This is the longest xmas ever.

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Pulled the SMG control unit today and shipped it out to ESS for their SMG software. First of many changes to the car starting woott...

Big box should up today with some of the parts you all have been waiting to see. CSL intake kit less a few parts. Contacted the supplier and they are shipping the missing items from this order. So have to wait for the last few parts need to have the complete kit. Also included was the CSL door handles to make the custom CSL doors. Slowly getting all the parts in still.

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Today the miscellaneous box of parts showed up. This contained mostly the parts for the center console. Also included was the OE BMW differential parts and the SMG expansion tank. Basically all the nuts and bolts HAHA. All that is left to arrive is the CSL cam, Bumper, snorkel and center console.

Finally got the SMG controller from ESS. I was disappointed in how they returned the unit to me. Controller was not in a static free bag as I sent it to them and it was in a USPS flat rate box with only one pass of bubble wrap. They are also slow to respond to emails. Anyone else have these issues with ESS or am I just the lucky one? I have taken it for about 40 miles of driving and can’t tell 100% if there is a change. From what I notice it seems to change up a smidge faster and downshifts are a smidge faster in feel. I am taking it on a “spirited” drive this weekend.

Also arrived are the Samsco hoses as part of the coolant system refresh when I take out the radiator. Hopefully these will keep the car cool for many years to come =)

Finally was able to install one of the major parts on the M3 on Saturday 9/1/12. My wife’s father works for a Porsche/Subaru shop so I was able to get access to a lift so I could install the steering rack. I combined it with two oil changes as well. Might as well make the most of having a lift right. Below are the images of the day and the work done to the M3 and 1M.

Image of the wife driving the 1M to the shop. Nice morning AM drive on the free up to Auburn.

1M was up first as that was just in for a oil change. So needed it as it was almost 7000 miles. I know bad M owner but I have been busy.

The following images are of the install of the steering rack. Sorry for the crappy image quality as all I had was my Iphone. I forgot the good camera so this is the best I could do. The install of the steering was pretty straight forward and took about 2 hours to do the install. I also changed the oil as it was due.

The change in the steering is noticeable. I was concerned a little as some said they did not notice a change when they drove their M3 and a M3 with the competition steering rack. The steering feels sharper and I can notice I do not have to turn the wheel as much as I did before when making hard over turns. It is not major change but enough that makes the steering feel closer to the 1M which was my goal. I believe that if I did try the ZHP rack of a 330 it probably would feel a tight as the 1M does but I did not want to go that extreme. OK so enough talking from me, images of the work below.

For kick and giggle I wanted to see what 10 years of ownership looks like in paperwork. It basically means a whole lot of paperwork in a hanging folder that I will have to split into two eventually.

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I did a drive last weekend with some local NorCal guys up HWY 1 on a 189 mile loop. (345 miles total for me). For those who say there is not a major change between the CSL/ZCP steering rack and OE need to take it on a super twisty road. Like most I did not feel a major change when driving surface streets and making tight turns in town. Hitting the back roads and taking hair pin turns is where I really felt a change. Bear with me as I try to explain. Before on a tight hair pin I would have fully crossed my arms over and still would need to turn more to make the turn. IE remove hand(s) and turn the wheel more. Now I do not exceed making a parallel X when having to crank the car over. Sorry best way to explain it. Bottom line is I just got my justification the cost was worth it. ESS software seems to make down changes and up changes in mode 5 a tad faster for a update there.
Here is one of the images of the drive. If you care to see some more images of the group drive I lead you can see them at www.norcaldrivers.com. Hopefully I will expand this website to the other states for the routes/photo places if anyone ever sends me routes and photo locations…..

So the long awaited big items arrived today. Thank you to the Evolve guys for a great packing job. A thing to point out is that the bumper comes with the gasket, splitters, and tow hoot cover. So I have a spare tow cover, 2 extra splitters and a spare seal. Kind of nice but at the same time could have saved the funds. Ok as usual images below.Items all packed up and deliveredAll the miscellaneous parts needed to install and complete the bumper installation.

Last of the interior parts from BMW were in this order. One step closer to getting the car to the interior shop. I hope to be able to pick the seats up next week as they are in.

The bumper itself. It comes painted which is kind of a bummer as I need to repay it. The bumper also seems to be some sort of carbon fiber? First time seeing a OE CSL bumper off a car.

I have 2 pairs of splitters. The splitters are super light and seem to be a thin carbon fiber. I will do a write up OE vs VS splitters.

OE grill so nothing to unusual here.

[b]The final piece of the intake puzzle. Only bummer part with this order is you can only order it with the servo. I am going to see what it might take to get it to work. Nice thing about having a mechanical / electrical engineer as a father =)[p]

Today’s parts update was a woohoo and a damit moment. The Recaro Profi XL seats are at the shop along with the install brackets. We installed the drive side seat and epic fail. The seat with the bracket sits taller than the stock seats so my head was holding the roof up. We are looking into either new brackets or having to make custom ones to drop the seat low enough. So I have sets but not in the car.

While at the shop I wanted to get a base dyno before all the big moods. Again another damit moment. We were only able to get to 2nd gear for the dyno test. We were able to at least use all the revs so we got a descent set of numbers. Max power was 317 and the consistent number was 312.4. Not too bad for a starting point.

So I did something stupid. I made it so I do not have to smog the car anymore but in order to do that I needed to so one last smog test. Well because of a minor oversight on my part, I was thrown into the idle and 2500 idle test group. In years past, I was able to pass the smog text because of yee old friend pictured below. The test was the rolling 20mph and 30mph tests. I passed with race software, 100 cell race cats and all the other intake / engine mods. All you need it the blue and orange can to make any car pass the sniffer =)

As I have to do the idle test, I fail that by 19 points but pass the 2500 test better than a Prius LOL. So I am off Friday to get a test section to pass the idle part only. This will be the last time is have to smog whoohooo.

Still waiting on the cam from Bekkers so I can start putting all the goodies on. Trying to time it to be done all at once as the car will be mostly apart.

Car is going in to have sub frame reinforcement installed and diff upgraded. After that it is going in for the intake and cam install FINALLY.

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I am off tomorrow to get the car smoged for the last time hopefully. I had an O2 go out just before I had a test section made. The last few week I have had o drive the car around with a test section in that is bouncing around a little under the car. It is freaking me out a bit that it is going to break something as there none of the brackets are installed. Car hates having to work through 100 cell race cats and 2 high efficiency cats. Car is also being dropped off tomorrow for rear sub frame and diff upgrade to 3.91s

So I have had some parts installed a tad out of order. I had custom seat brackets made to have the Recaro seats installed. I had to have them made as I am using the sliders so the wife can drive the car still. I sit about the same height as the stock power seats. The goal was to drop weight and sit lower. I could get about a inch lower if I went to a non fixed slider but as mentioned above the wife needs to drive the car. Here are some quick pics of the seats installed.

Car is back after being gone for the weekend. So here is the latest and greatest.

Got the car smogged for the last time WOOTTT. As you can see I am cleaner than a prius… 4 cats can do that HAHA. Anyone needs a test section I will loan it out for $30 bucks.

After I got the car smogged I took it straight over to the fabrication shop to have the rear sub frame done as well as have the diff upgraded to 3.91 gears. Trying to time work when things can be done together. My car had started to show signs of spider cracks on both sides. The frame had not "completely cracked" but if I had not done the reinforce kit it would have eventually done so. Here is some images of the car at the fabrication shop.

From what I have found and what the shop believes as well is the reason the frames are cracking is fatigue failures. Same issue with aircraft hulls and the pressure changes. The metal eventually begins to fracture with the constant pressurization and un-pressurization.

The fatigue part in our cars is the loading and unloading going around turns. This constant flexing causes the area to fail. Bad job by BMW not to beef this up for that is the reason for the cracks. Stiffer suspension only acerbates the issue faster. As the car has 59000 hard miles on it from back roads driving and being on CA roads I guess I am not surprised to know I would potently have the issue.

Last of the recent changes is the 3.91 gears upgrade. Already I can feel a change in the car and I don’t even have them broken in. I t made sense to do the diff work now as I had the sub frame out. Pics are of the old 3.61 stock gears.

Loaded all the parts up and car is off to the shop to get all the major goodies installed. I will post some more images of the parts later tonight. Never got around to doing detailed images like I wanted to but at least I have images of everything before it goes on the car.

I know most of you have seen these parts before but here are the parts at some different angles. Hopefully you will see some things you never noticed before. Such as the center console has some side flares that I never noticed in the images I have seen. I grouped the images based on item.

The car is now back at home after two months of being on vacation LOL. The shop I took the car to was kind enough to take images of some of the work as they did it. I need to give a major kudos to the shop for doing the work and doing an AMAZING job.

They had to do some learning in order to put it all together as well as do some customizing in order to make a factory fit and finish. They made it all come together so if you want to do something crazy like this in CA than this is the shop. They also have all the Evolve stuff as well as they programed the car for me. Next step is to paint the front bumper and break in the diff and cams for 500 miles =)

Car the day before surgery

No the images you all have been waiting for. Here is a LARGE compilation of images of an OE CSL INTAKE, OE CSL Air duct, and OE CSL Cams install. I will make NO apologize for the in-depth amount of images of the install done. Thank you again to the shop for taking the time to document =)

LOL - as I am reading this, you keep adding to it; I like how the forum just automatically loads more and more.

Anyhoo - nice car man, you are very lucky that cam didn't come apart in your engine. That's a very odd break to say the least, I don't understand how that could have happened during shipping.

One thing I wanted to ask - I had an 04 M3, and yes - the car definitely had a raspy noise to it. However, once the car was extremely warmed up - the rasp (to me) seemed to completely dissipate. You didn't have the same experience?

Car is off to paint today =) Hope it will not take as long as it did to install the CSL parts LOL. After paint, it I can break in the car for the 500 miles needed to set the DIFF gear. After all the break ins and fluid changes, I will work on the videos and a nice photo shoot of the car.